Page 110 - Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016
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3.6    Conclusions                              Recommendation E.212) and providing Mobile
                                                               Network Codes to M2M service providers. In
               While it is difficult to make precise forecasts   the long run, shared-space technology has the
               about the global impact of the Internet of Things,   potential to offer much greater bandwidth for IoT
               analysts seem almost unanimous that it will be   and other communication services.
               extremely significant – with tens of billions of
               devices deployed and trillions of dollars of annual   The widespread use of common technical
               impacts within the next decade. IoT technologies   standards will be the key to a low-cost,
               could make an important contribution to         interoperable IoT. This can be encouraged by
               addressing global challenges such as improving   continued cooperation between standards bodies
               public health and quality of life, moderating   and government support for standards use and
               carbon emissions, and increasing the efficiency   participation. National and local government
               of a range of industries across developed and   authorities can stimulate the availability of
               developing economies.                           open IoT datasets, platforms and components.
                                                               Municipal governments are playing a key role in
               The pace of IoT deployment will partly depending   smart-city and open-data programmes. They may
               on overcoming the hurdles currently facing the   find it easier than national governments do to
               development of cheaper, more reliable and       experiment with new technologies and policies
               well-connected systems. Common networks,        suited to local conditions.
               technical standards, system components, and
               infrastructure build-outs, as well as strong public-  Some countries are taking a relatively hands-off
               private partnerships, can reduce the costs of IoT   approach to IoT regulation, focusing instead on
               systems. Open data and platforms can make it    promoting economic growth and innovation. For
               easier for new systems to be developed, especially   example, the Korean government has recently
               by individual entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs.   planned to reduce IoT (as well as e-commerce and
               Innovation centres and incubators can further   Internet finance) regulation to support a dynamic
               encourage new businesses to enter IoT markets,   ecosystem for future growth. It still plans to
               increasing competiveness. Governments can take   protect users, prevent abuse of market dominance
               steps to encourage national transitions to IPv6,   and protect Internet networks, and it will decide
               updating all their own systems and providing    on which restrictions to maintain through social
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               incentives to private-sector providers to do so.   consensus.  Other countries and regions –
                                                               notably the European Union – are taking a more
               Large-scale IoT systems like smart cities and   pro-active approach to protect social values,
               international logistics chains need very cheap   such as privacy, as the IoT develops, while still
               sensors that can last for long periods of time   paying strong attention to the need to promote
               without needing repairs or new power sources.   the economic benefits of the technology. Such
               They also need the bandwidth to share data,     strategic decisions are political ones that can only
               whether by infrequent bursts or streams of      be taken by national governments while sharing
               high-resolution video. M2M systems rely on      evidence and best practices through international
               continued growth in coverage of 3G and 4G       forums such as the ITU.
               networks and support for remotely provisioned,
               embedded SIMs for more reliable and competitive   Regulators can play a role in encouraging the
               communications.                                 development and adoption of the IoT, while
                                                               promoting efficient markets and the public
               Telecommunication regulators can have the       interest. Competition regulators will need to
               greatest impact by supporting the continued     monitor whether ex post investigations of abuse
               development and deployment of high-speed        of dominant positions prove sufficient to foster
               cellular networks and tracking the need for     a competitive market and rapid innovation.
               IoT-specific spectrum. Licensing and spectrum   Regulators should give particular attention to
               management are important to ensure that IoT     IoT privacy and security issues, which are key
               systems develop cost-effectively and have the   to encouraging public trust and adoption of the
               necessary bandwidth to communicate. Better      technology. While many telecommunication
               services can be provided at a significantly lower   regulators already have responsibility for network
               cost by updating standards (such as the ITU’s   security, this is an area where they could do more




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